Johannesburg, South Africa: With oil prices fluctuating on a daily basis, businessmen, politicians and just about everyone with an opinion knows that there is a need to diversify from a heavily dependent oil-based economy.

But does the world have a viable asset that is in high demand, relatively low cost at the moment with a high potential for exponential growth in the short to medium term? The answer – African land.
Over the last few years, notably in the Hotel, Retail and Residential sectors. Africa’s rapidly growing property markets are attracting increased interest from international investors, developers and occupiers.

This is a fascinating twist, considering just a few years ago, Africa was seen as a dumping ground of mediocrity. Investors were just not confident of making significant, ground-breaking investments in the region.

In spite of developments occurring at a breakneck speed, the key areas that we see continually strapped to the back-bench are financial planning, project execution and most importantly, the implementation of sustainable measures.

The 10th Edition Hotelier Summit, which recently concluded on April-21, was designed to address this challenge. The summit brought together investors from all over the world to engage with leading industry members in the Sub-Sahara African real estate fraternity.

Delegates such as Mr. Sijibomi Ogundele, CEO of Sujimoto Constructions and Mr. Lee Karuri, CEO of Resorts & Cities Kenya addressed the gathering of global suppliers and investors, outlining their long list of requirements both from an investment perspective and the supply chain perspective.

“I found it very humbling and felt extremely privileged to have been invited to speak on the same platform with South Africa’s Tourism Minister, Ms. Tokozile Xasa, among other respected stakeholders. I met remarkable influencers such as Johannesburg’s Director, Economic Development Facilitation, Ms. Blanche Majosi; CEO Orion Group, Mr. Franz Gmeiner; President Continental Strategy Partners Ltd, Mr. Micah Wells; Nestle Country Head, Consumer Goods Johannesburg, Mr. Madoda Theo Mxakwe; CEO, Grohe, Mr. Michael Rauterkus; amongst an expected 1500 like-minds from 54 Countries across more than 3 continents, to discuss Africa’s explosive property markets and how to continue to attract interest from investors and developers, home and abroad through innovative luxury real estate.” – Sijibomi Ogundele, CEO – Sujomoto Constructions

The event was not only about creating business opportunities… the event was about optimism. IDE is committed to transforming the real estate sector across the continent and make Africa the next frontier when it comes to exceptional hospitality and excellent development.

In the bid to make our vision a reality, the next phase of our mission will be to reach out to the North African members through the 13th Edition Hotelier Summit-Africa in Casablanca Morocco on the 6th and 7th of October 2017.

We will round off 2017 by gathering affiliates from across the continent back to Johannesburg in November to engage in project feasibilities during the IDE Expo Africa. The IDE Expo will cater to 5 different sectors of the real estate industry – residential, commercial, healthcare, education and hospitality and the scope of the discussions will cover the entire lifecycle of the project from conceptualization to operations.

Ravi Kumar Chandran, Director of IDE and mastermind of the 10th Edition Hotelier Summit Africa explains his vision and drive for Africa: “This year we hosted the inaugural Honorarium Grand to recognize and award the developers who have demonstrated their unwavering commitment towards the growth of the African real estate sector. It is IDE’s pleasure to have got the chance of honoring these personalities as they are able to see through the roughness of the market and take the risk of investing in Africa. Our endeavour is the continue this thought process of development among the real estate fraternity members including developers, contractors, designers, architects, consultants, suppliers and to the policy makers in a given region. By doing so our vision of regrouping the investor community in 2017 for Africa has set the agenda for 2018.” Said Ravi Kumar

Kgosi Nyalala Pilane, the Chief of Pilanesberg, fittingly concluded the first day of the summit when he said that for an economy to develop, what is needed is people, land and resources. Africa is blessed with at least two of the three factors – people and land. With 66.6% of the ingredients available, all we need is a platform like the Hotelier Summit Africa to make the plans and kick-start the development growth curve.